The Candy Beard
by missy52061
Summary: Lily Castle's first Halloween. As always, I don't own Castle, but I wish I did!


Kate Beckett couldn't believe she was going to do this. She'd had a meeting in Midtown, and since it had run long, she'd decided to go to Macy's rather than back to the precinct. (There was this pair of boots she'd had her eyes on for a little while.) As she was going to grab the subway for home, she looked across the street and saw the party supply store.

So instead of going on the subway, she crossed 34th Street and headed to the store. A few nights ago, Rick had showed her their latest catalog of Halloween costumes for infants. She had chuckled, thinking he was showing her how cute the little ones looked. But then he started talking, and she realized he wanted to buy a costume for Lily!

"Rick, she's five months old! She won't have a single memory of Halloween, and she certainly can't eat any of the candy," she'd said to him. But in typical Rick Castle fashion, he would not be deterred.

"I know Kate, but we'll have the memories! And we can take a lot of pictures so we can show her in the future. And we wouldn't take her too far; we could just show her off to Mother and Jim and Alexis. Oh, and the precinct!" She couldn't help but grin at his enthusiasm, but she still wasn't sure. At that moment, his phone rang, and since it was Paula, he walked into the office to talk to her.

Kate picked up the glossy catalog and she smiled as she looked at the infant costumes – Rick was right, Lily would look adorable in almost any of them. But then Rick came out of his office, and between cooking dinner, playing with Lily and putting her to bed, and other nightly activities, the two of them didn't talk about a costume for Lily.

Then a few days later, Alexis came for dinner. As she sat on the couch, playing peek-a-boo with her little sister, Rich showed her the catalog. She grinned and then said to her father, "So I guess you have your new candy beard, Dad!" Kate looked at her husband, whose ears turned pink with embarrassment.

"Candy beard?" she questioned her stepdaughter, who laughed out loud at the look on Kate's face.

"Yes, Dad used to take "me" trick-or-treating, just so he could get some candy! When I got older and told him I wasn't going trick-or-treating anymore, he was so disappointed. I remember him telling me that I was his candy beard, and I told him to get a new one! I guess that means Lily has been nominated," she teased her father. Rick quickly changed the subject, but Kate understood things a little more now.

She started thinking more about buying a costume for her little girl; her daddy would really enjoy it. It seemed that fate had a hand in her being here at this moment. As she walked over to the display, she saw the tiny princess dress, the adorable puppy and the pretty flower. Then she saw the perfect costume for their daughter and before she could talk herself out of it, she bought it. On the way home, she decided she'd keep it a surprise for Rick. She had already planned to take Halloween off, so she could bring the costume out sometime that afternoon so Rick could take her trick-or-treating and then he could show her off to the family.

She got up early with Lily on Halloween morning, and then made a big breakfast for the two of them. She decided she'd put Lily into her costume after her nap, and they'd take her to the precinct – she knew that most of the detectives and uniforms would love to see her and they'd have candy. She knew that Kev and Jenny were bringing Nick and Sarah so hopefully she could see them and they could see Lily. She heard Lily stirring over the baby monitor and walked into her room. Then she saw that her husband had gotten there first, and he was changing Lily into – "A Princess Leia costume?" she laughed as she saw her daughter.

Rick turned around at the sound of her voice and grinned. "Yeah, don't you think it perfect for our Star Wars baby?" Then he laughed when he saw what was in her hand – the exact same costume! "So I guess we still have a shared brain, huh Beckett?" As he turned back to their daughter, and finished dressing her as everyone's favorite space princess/general, Kate smiled as she watched. And when he picked up their tiny Princess Leia, Kate took her from her husband and kissed her cheek. Rick had his new candy beard, and she hoped he got nothing but full sized candy bars!

 **A/N: I recently watched "Vampire Weekend", and when Rick and Alexis had that conversation about "candy beards", I realized that he does indeed have a new one, AKA Lily. So then this story popped into my head. And I've seen toddler Princess Leia costumes so I hoped that some store does sell baby versions. In my Castle world, Lily was born on May 4** **th** **, so I figured Rick and Kate would both buy her that costume.**

 **Oh, and there really is a party supply store on 34** **th** **Street in NYC, right across the street from Macy's!**


End file.
